University of California sources tell us Dirks and his wife, Janaki Bakhle, have no plans to move out of the chancellor’s campus mansion, known as University House. They live there free of charge.

It’s just that the couple are thinking long term and have decided to stake out a home in the increasingly expensive Bay Area real estate market. The idea is to move there once Dirks’ tenure as chancellor ends, sources say.

For as long as they remain on campus, the couple apparently hope to rent out their new property.

The deal is still awaiting the close of escrow, and listing agent Anne Politeo declined to discuss terms of the sale or confirm the purchaser.

We hoped to find out what Dirks thought about owning the home that for the past 20 years belonged to the celebrated author of “The Color Purple.” But UC Berkeley spokesman Dan Mogulof was mum, saying, “We don’t comment on personal matters.”

Photo: Brenda Lawley, PBS/American Masters

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Author Alice Walker is reportedly selling her house to UC Berkeley’s chancellor and his wife.

Author Alice Walker is reportedly selling her house to UC Berkeley’s chancellor and his wife.

Photo: Brenda Lawley, PBS/American Masters

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UC Berkeley chancellor Nicholas Dirks during a meeting of the faculty senate at UC Berkeley on Tues. May 3, 2016, in Berkeley, California.

UC Berkeley chancellor Nicholas Dirks during a meeting of the faculty senate at UC Berkeley on Tues. May 3, 2016, in Berkeley, California.

Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle

UC Berkeley chancellor buying novelist Alice Walker’s home

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Meanwhile, back on campus, workers have finally finished putting up that controversial fence around the chancellor’s residence. Campus officials ordered up the extra security after Dirks and his wife reported being unnerved by a series of security breaches.

As we reported in August, complaints from students and faculty over the amount of public space being gobbled up by the fence prompted the campus to move it back a bit. That pushed up the cost of the 7-foot-tall fence, which had been pegged at $400,000, to $700,000.

P.S.: While Dirks plans to stay put as chancellor, his wife, a South Asian history professor at UC Berkeley, will be taking a one-year sabbatical starting this fall to pursue a writing fellowship — at rival Stanford.

Clinton here: Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton’s top political problems may be Bernie Sanders now and Donald Trump later, but she took a few minutes during her Oakland stop Friday to take on some issues on California’s agenda.

In a short sit-down before hitting the stage at La Escuelita Elementary School, Clinton was asked about sanctuary-city policies like those that kept San Francisco from turning over a convicted felon to immigration authorities before he allegedly shot and killed a woman last year.

Photo: Leah Millis, The Chronicle

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton greets volunteers Friday at her newly opened campaign office in Oakland during a stop in the Bay Area.

“Nobody necessarily wants to deport people,” Clinton said, but “of course there has to be a line. Violent offenders, repeat offenders — that’s a whole different story.”

She said she’s fully behind Gov. Jerry Brown’s pet high-speed rail project, which opponents have labeled a boondoggle that will never do what its advocates claim — move people quickly between the Bay Area and Los Angeles.

But she’s less enthusiastic about a measure likely to be on the November ballot that would legalize recreational marijuana in California. Her friend and ally Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom may be a driving force, but Clinton said she has questions about it, adding: “I favor more research.”

Granny ganga: As campaign kickoffs go, last week’s launch of the “Let’s Get It Right, California” campaign looked more like an AARP meeting than a legalize-marijuana drive.

Consider:

The location: The prestigious Commonwealth Club.

The set: All red, white and blue — with nary a marijuana leaf in sight.

The cast: Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom and a row of speakers whose age was on the north side of 60, including GOP Rep. Dana Rohrabacher of Costa Mesa (Orange County), Dr. Donald Abrams from UCSF and NAACP state Chairwoman Alice Huffman.

None of the speakers said they personally supported recreational marijuana. Instead, they cast the issue of legalizing pot as one of smart regulation and social justice.

“This issue is about getting drug dealers off of the streets and the predators who target our kids,” Newsom said.

“The war on drugs was a war on my community,” Huffman said.

Then there was the support team: Gale Kaufman, the longtime political consultant for the California Teachers Association, Democratic state Senate consultant Jason Kinney and veteran pollster David Binder.

In other words, the event was about as mainstream as can be — and with good reason.

According to Field Poll director Mark DiCamillo, the 2010 state ballot measure to legalize pot fell short because older minority voters said “no” — and the backers of this latest effort know it.

Room service: A’s co-owner Lew Wolff might not be keen on building a downtown Oakland ballpark. But he’s quite enthusiastic about his project to put up a 164-room hotel just two blocks from Oakland City Hall.

Wolff has confirmed to us that he’s the developer who bought the rights to build at 1431 Jefferson St. and that he has lined up a Marriott Residence Inn to go into the space.

“The attitude of the mayor and City Council in Oakland today is so positive that I’m delighted to be involved in an urban project downtown,” Wolff said. “I think the future of Oakland’s core area is huge.”

San Francisco Chronicle columnists Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross appear Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays. Matier can be seen on the KPIX TV morning and evening news. He can also be heard on KCBS radio Monday through Friday at 7:50 a.m. and 5:50 p.m. Got a tip? Call (415) 777-8815, or email matierandross@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @matierandross